Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year! [depending where you're from] This holiday season, my parents took my brother and I on a road trip to Florida! After being away from home for 4 months, it was nice to spend a little quality time with my fam. I spent quite a bit of time in the car or on the beach. Relaxing, reading, sleeping, eating, and collecting seashells were the mass of my daily activities. Also, I did quite a bit of shopping, so perhaps look out for a haul ;).

Surprisingly enough, Florida was a bit colder than I had anticipated [I was a few hours north of Miami]. Didn't go to Disney or anything, but the weather was much better than Toronto [see last picture].

If you're interested in what and where I ate on my vacation, I'll be posting some reviews and pics on my food blog HERE! My dad cooked a lot, so lots of photos of his food especially!

Any ways, on to the photos of December 15th to December 26th:

Historic District - Savannah, Georgia

Drove to Savannah, Georgia and stayed there for a night...I love looking at historic-looking houses. The town was pretty empty, as it was down season, but it was very quaint. I could totally imagine people sitting at the bars and drinking a glass of iced tea [during the summer of course].

An old house in Savannah!

Butler Beach [mid-morning]

she sells sea shells by the sea shore

I swear the coast line went on for miles and miles

Ducks in a shop in Downtown St. Augustine

Lightner Museum, Downtown St. Augustine

The Florida Sunset

Farmers market hula hoops

I really liked this jewellery stand. Too bad they weren't selling it :(

Fort Mantanzas

The view from inside the fort

Sunrise 7:00AM

Sunrise 7:30AM

St. Augustine Pier

Came back home on Boxing Day [Dec. 26th] to snow snow and more snow

Overall, I'd say the trip was super relaxing and just the right length. I'm glad that I'm home sweet home in Toronto now,but I'm missing the not-so-warm warmth of Florida. I'm looking forward to spending my last week of vacation catching up with friends and family :)

The holidays are coming to an end! I'm done holidays on January 7th, 2013. When are you returning back to your every day work/school life? :) xx

Saturday, December 29, 2012

I'm not typically a huge gift giving/receiving person. As I said in my *today is the present* post, my parents and I don't typically exchange gifts. They do, however, help me pay for school, and have bought me a tremendous amount of things when we went to Florida.

Other than my parents, one of my uncles gave a donation to SickKids hospital in my name. I'm pretty sure my other relatives think I'm too old for gifts or they're not sure what to buy me, so I just get money in little red envelopes. Also, I'm exchanging gifts with my best friend in the new year. So, that leaves a few others...

Roommates. I did a little gift exchange with my three roommates. You can see what I gave them here :) However, I left right after exams, so I gave them theirs but I'll have to pick mine up from our apartment in the new year. One of my roommates gave me The Body Shop Body Butter in Cranberry Joy. I've used this holiday scent previously and I love body butters, so this product is sure to be well-loved! [**just a quick note that if you're into The Body Shop products, they are having a bunch of discounts on holiday items on their outlet page.**]

Secret Santa. I organized a secret santa for an organization I'm involved in at school. The limit was $25, everyone made a wishlist and got one of the things they specifically asked for. Some of things on my wishlist were nail polish, a Sephora gift card, and a few books on my to-read. My Secret Santa was a guy, so he decided to get me a book series I've been eyeing. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is a Japanese to English translation of a spin-off of George Orwell's 1984. I read the ENTIRE series on vacation and loved it!

The Boyfriend. My boyfriend and I buy things for each other all year around [Yearly Anniversaries, Birthdays, Valentine's Day, etc]. Christmas is no exception and he got me three accessory items from Aldo. ~ A handbag, a watch, and an infinity scarf. I'm almost convinced he loves the pairing of beige/brown and gold. I'm so proud that he picked things that suit me well.

I'm a bit of a utilitarian when it comes to gifting. If it's useful, I'll love it. If it's going to sit on a shelf and collect dust, not so much...All these gifts are things I'm surely going to use and love. I'm very thankful for everything I've received and I hope all the gifts I've given will be well enjoyed.

Friday, December 28, 2012

This is a long post. So, grab some tea or hot coffee and snuggle up. It's a two part post. The first will be a review on the product I received and the second will be my views on the customer service experience. I apologize beforehand for all the negativity, but this is just my honest experience with the company.

REVIEW

JustFab is a monthly fashion subscription website for purses, jeans, accessories, and shoes. It is highly hyped by the likes of beauty/fashion giants such as Michelle Phan. Moreover, several subscription beauty boxes offer coupons to this website. Looking for a new work-appropriate purse, this is what initially attracted me to buying from the website.

Regularly $40, I purchased the Belgravia bag in black for $19.95 plus $6.95 shipping and $2.95 tax [a total of $29.49]. The shipment came via Purolator in a large box. When I opened it, it was well wrapped in packaging. Upon tearing open the wrappings, a nasty fishy smell came out [not enjoyable]. It was pretty flat at first, but I shaped it a little and it was fine.

Belgravia photo from Justfab.com

Actual Bag

The bag pretty much looks exactly the same as the picture on the website, apart from the blue lining on the inside of the bag [displayed as zebra print on the website].

I'd say the bag is pretty big for my body, but it will be useful for carrying papers and my laptop for work.

Good: appears exactly the same as the website description, packaged nicely

Bad: odd smell, customer service [see RANT]

In summary, the bag itself was pretty decent. However, the ordeal that I had to go through to obtain this bag was pretty horrific.I am the epitome of an angry customer.

RANT

I made an order on JustFab.com on December 2nd. I received a confirmation email that day to say that it would be processed in 0-2 business days and that I would be charged after it had been shipped. However, I was charged before even receiving a tracking number. This worried me a little so I attempted an inquiry. The website says that there is three ways to contact them: (1) email (2) live chat (3) phone. So, I contacted them by email and had no reply. Then, I tried to go on live chat during different times of the day for several days. Every time, it was closed. Finally, I called 3 times. Twice to inquire about my order that had not been shipped, and once to cancel my subscription. All three times I waited on hold for 15 to 30 minutes.

The first time I called, the lady
“Shanae” told me that there was an issue with my order. In my mind, I was like
“No duh, that’s why I’m calling; please help me fix my issue.” So, she put me
on hold so that she could talk to her manager. I waited a few minutes then she came
back on the line and told me her manger would get back to me in 48 hours. I
didn’t sit around waiting for 48 hours, but I didn’t expect a call and I didn’t
get one.

Whilst paying my phone bill, I
saw that there had been a second charge
to my bank account. So I called again to see what was up. This time a different
lady “Camille” picked up and told me that they had to charge me again to check
if my bank account was working and that my bank should “release” the
transaction. I’ve contacted my bank to tell them to block JustFab from my
account. It had also been more than 48 hours so I asked about the status of my
order. The lady said she submitted my case to the warehouse, it would be
shipped as soon as possible, and I would receive my tracking number in 3-5
business days. I was a little annoyed because that would sum up to a total of 3
weeks that I’d have waited.

The third that I called, I wanted
to cancel. The customer service representative told me all the benefits of
being a member and that I would not receive these benefits if I cancelled. The
fact is, I knew the benefits already, and the reason I was calling was because
the cost of calling three times and
dealing with a bunch of confused people who can’t find your order and charge
you once too many times, completely
exceeds any benefit of being a member. I told her straight up, “I’d just like
to cancel please.”

After all the struggle and strife, they did end
up emailing me back:

"We thank you for your interest in JustFabulous.
We couldn’t help resolve the issue without speaking to you. If you call in we
can get more information and help find a solution. Please contact our Fashion
Consultants at your earliest convenience to resolve this issue.If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us online
via Live Chat, Monday-Friday, 7am-7pm Pacific Standard Time or by phone at
866-337-0906 available 24 hours a day,7 days a week."

Thanks so much, JustFab. I already did all of those things,
just like normal and concerned customer would do. I remember entering my name,
phone number, order number, and email, and they still didn’t bother giving me a direct answer. Checked my bank account again, and I was
charged a third time. I finally received my shipping confirmation on December
20th and FINALLY received my package a few days later.

After this experience, I will NEVER order from JustFab again. I understand that it is currently the holiday season but that does not explain me being charged 3 times. I did check out the reviews and there were tons of claims that JustFab is a scam. I ignored them because of all the hype on Youtube by the likes of Michelle Phan, Chriselle Lim, and several fashion vloggers [this is not to discredit the youtubers themselves, their videos are awesome]. I was charged 3 times for an order of $30. That's $90 for something that I intended to be much less. So yes, I would call JustFab a scam. Their products may be real and pretty decent but it's not worth the sheer pain of dealing with this company.

I felt the Urban Decay Glide-On Eye Pencil was only ok. Since the last bag had a black eyeliner I was content with, UD is like a baby step up. The liner is softer, less waxy and more appropriate for smudging. Even though UD is a fairly high end brand, this is just another black eyeliner that I will surely get some use out of.

I haven't tried the Mirabella Prime for Face and Eyes on my face... or eyes just yet. I swatched it on my arm, but it's clear... Anyways, it felt really smooth, kind of like the Bare Minerals Prime Time Foundation Primer. We shall see...

In a previous post, I expressed my new found love for pigments. NYX Loose Pearl Shadow in Mink Pink will be a new addition to my collection of 3 pigments. The colour is pretty much your typical champagne shimmery pink colour, which is always useful. I'd be pretty devastated if I got black-pearl because I'm not quite into that. ALSO, I'm going to try out a nail look with the loose eyeshadow [as seen on Ipsy's facebook page] in the very near future.

The Be a Bombshell Lipgloss in Hot Mess is a fiery red colour. It looks pretty orange in my picture, but it's more red with a HINT of orange. The pigmentation is slightly sheer. The only thing that bothers me about the product is the packaging. The stopper in the tube lets out hardly any product.

The Mai Couture Highlighter Papier in St. Barts is said to be one of those "mind-blowing, next generation products". Honestly, I think its just glitter on a sheet of paper. When I swatched it on my arm, all I saw was glitter. If it's meant to be subtle, it's VERY subtle. Anyways, the colour is about the same as the NYX pigment.

Just wanted to take a moment to express my love for the Be a Bombshell Lipgloss. It's not glittery at all, just glossy AND fairly pigmented. Definitely my favourite for this months bag. It makes me feel a little like a bombshell :P

Overall, I am much more content with this month's bag than last's. That being said, I'm looking forward to January, as I'm hoping the new year will bring upon lots of cool new products for me to try!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

I hope you're all doing well and spending lots of time with your loved ones.

I thought today I'd write a bit about my thoughts on Christmas. It's important because for the past few months and weeks I've gotten so caught up in shopping and wishlists and consumerism, but Christmas is about so much more.

Christmas over the years. My parents stopped giving my brother and I the typical "object" sort gifts when I was about 16. At 16, I was a little cheesed to see nothing under the tree early on Christmas morning. I'm not much older [or much more mature] but I've come to a little realization. That year, my parents took us to Hawaii (during the holidays) then helped me pay for an exchange trip to Italy in March of the following year. From what I can recall, the experience of going to new places, meeting new people, and trying new things were a gazillion times better than receiving a new body lotion, the latest pokemon game, or the next MAC Viva Glam Lipstick. Eventually, the body lotion will run out, all the pokemon will be caught, and the lipstick tube will go back to MAC. But what remains? Those sorts of items don't truly hold significance in my life. I mean I used to love playing pokemon, and messing around with makeup, and who doesn't need another body lotion?

In Christmas movies, the "true meaning of Christmas" is cheesy, but displayed well. It's the nostalgic feeling of cheer around loved ones. It's a little different for everyone. For me, it's the little memories. For instance, when I around 6 or 7 I remember my oldest female cousin dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out all our gifts. At 5 feet tall, it was awkwardly hilarious and cute at the same time. I also remember when my uncles would lift up all the little kids, swing us around, then throw us on the couch to make a "kid sandwich". Christmas day is also my best friends birthday. Last year, we had a little cake fight. I squashed cake all over her face and we made a mess of her kitchen while eating Swiss Chalet. This year, I'll be coming back from a Florida road trip with my family on Christmas day. What I'll recall most? Inside family jokes in the car, sleep talking, and eating breakfast for lunch for three days in a row. Something about Christmas makes everything 110% more cheerful, happy, joyful, and memorable then the rest of the year.

Why can't Christmas be every day? If it was, retailers would be busy every day, the economy would be pretty booming, and I'd be broke and fat from overspending and eating too many filling meals. The fact is, Christmas can't be every day. However, there is one big takeaway from the holidays that should be carried forward throughout the rest of the year. Spend more time with family, friends, and loved ones. For myself, I easily get caught up in life. Be it school, work, friends, hobbies, just anything and everything. I know and I remind myself every day that I am getting older and my parents are getting older. I wish time could go on forever, but one day, I'll no longer be living with my parents, perhaps I'll be in a different city or a different country. Of course, I'll try to spend as much time with them as possible because opportunities might not be as readily available in the future. So now the little things are important-- little things like eating meals together, helping my mom DIY dye her hair and going on little thrifting trips with her, watching the latest Batman movie with my dad, or going outside on the porch to enjoy nice weather while drinking a cup of tea as a family.

I guess, to me, family is really important. Other then that, I think everyone should take all that positivity and warmth and togetherness and make the smallest effort to incorporate those attributes into every day life.

What inspired this post? A Levi's [jeans] print advertisement. At first I thought...."Haha, that's SO punny. Today is the present... like every day is Christmas" but waking up at 6:45 am in the morning to catch a photo of the sunrise in Florida, I thought really hard...

Every morning, the sun rises. Everywhere, every day, for everyone. The gift of the present, a brand new day, is given. A new day to live your life the way you want, have fun, meet new people, to meet new people, to share experiences with them, to express yourself, to love, and to be loved each and every day.

So I've made a little promise to myself today. It's not going to be easy to keep because sometimes life is chaotic and sometimes its hard to remember what is truly important to me. I want to wake up every morning with just as much positivity, beauty, happiness, gracefulness, excitement, and warmth as Christmas morning.
Why? because... today is the present and I ought to make it count.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

This week, I moved out of my apartment and left my roommates a few little gifts. I met them all in my first year of university and it's been a great time living with them. I thought it would be a good idea to get a few small things to say Merry Christmas and see you in the summer. Although I am extremely indecisive, I LOVE buying gifts for other people. I made a couple trips to two different stores.

First I went to a little local store that sells eco-friendly goods made from people in other countries, kidn of like a "Ten Thousand Villages" type thing. I bought three pairs of earrings [plus one for myself].

Then I picked up these cute little jewellery holders made in India from the same store and popped the earrings into them.

From Shoppers Drug Mart, I bought three bars of chocolate and my favourite EOS lip balm. One of my roommates is OBSESSED with chocolate, so I got her some more chocolate as a little joke.

Couldn't forget the little note with some season's greetings!

I put everything in these little bags and hung them on their doorknobs before I moved out.

Giving gifts to my roommates has gotten me super pumped for Christmas. I've got lots more shopping to do for family, friends, and my boyfriend, and I can't wait!

Have you gotten all your Christmas shopping done? What did you get? :)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

I received a couple new products through the Revlon Selects program and I thought I'd share my thoughts:

PhotoReady Primer + Shadow // 501 Metropolitan - $13.49

Nail Art Moon Candy // 280 Orbit - $9.49

Ultimate Suede Lipstick // 035 Backstage - $12.99

Nail Art Expressionist // 360 Vincent van Gold $9.49

Revlon Nail File - $2.49

[Retail prices at Rexall at Eaton's Centre] If I were to purchase these items based on the retail prices, I would buy these items either one at a time, slowly wait for sales, or purchase these products in the States. They are slightly more pricey than their other drugstore counterparts...

The Moon Candy Nailpolish deep blue on one side and blue/silver/purple large chunks of glitter on the other side. The blue is very beautiful. For me it went on opaque in one coat. It took a long time to dry, so when I put the glitter coat on top the blue polish smudged quite a bit. The glitter is very pretty, but it takes a bit of work to scoop out the glitter from the bottle and may take a few coats for a more glittery effect. This one definitely needs a top coat as the glitter chunks are unusually sharp. I'd say it definitely looks quite galaxy/space-esque. It might take a little work, but this polish is quite beautiful.

I'm not too good with nail art [maybe I should try it more often]. The Expressionists kit is a thick brush on the purple side and a little striper brush on the gold side. The purple is opaque in two coats and the gold seems to be a little thinner. I'll be playing around with this one a little more.

I've haven't had any great experience with Revlon Shadows in the past but this exceeds my previous Revlon palettes. The palette looks really beautiful. The formula is very smooth but unfortunately, the shadows in the palette were for the most part, under-pigmented. However, I tried wearing the shadows and they lasted all day! So despite the under-pigmentation, the lasting power is really great!

The two pinky light pinky shades are barely even picked up by my camera. In person, it's the same. The silvery shade looks nice in the pan, but doesn't swatch well. The matte deep brown definitely my favourite and it's a plus because it's fairly long lasting. If you're into fairly chunky glitter, this palette's for you. I'd like to see what other shades they have in different palettes.

The Ultimate Suede Lipstick is quite sheer when applied. I put a few coats on my swatch. I'll call it a berry red colour. The formula tastes a bit sweet and has a nice cocoa-ish smell. Upon application, it felt very smooth and moisturising [as the claims say]. One of the hard things about applying was that the lipstick is rounded so its a bit hard to b precise. I wore the lipstick for a couple hours. It's pretty when first applied. After that it feeling a bit weird. It doesn't dry out my lips, per say, but it feels so different from any other lipstick I've tried.. It's a nice colour and I'll wear it just for that, however, I'm not a fan of my lips feeling like suede.

Finally, the nail file. I love the one side of glitter. It's so girly and would make a nice stocking stuffer. Other than that, I think it's just your typical nail file.

Overall, it was totally worth it to try out some new products. My favourites would have to be the lipstick and the deep blue in the Moon Candy Nail set. I'll be playing around with it a little more. If my impressions change at all, I'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks for reading! xx

**I received all these products for free through the Revlon Selects Program and am not being paid to show/review them.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

This is not really beauty related, but it's a little obsession that I'd like to share with you all. Call me crazy, but I love ordering samples online. When I order samples, I use my home address. The issue for me is that I live away from home for school, so every time something gets delivered, my parents put it in my room. Over the past 4 months, a very large pile of stuff has formed.

Ordering free samples is a great way to try out new products. Plus, the samples typically come with coupons so if you fall in love with a product, you can save a little.

I often order boxes (P&G Brandsaver // SampleSource) and use company Facebook pages to determine giveways and freebies. Websites like www.smartcanucks.ca are useful if you like to stay in the loop of when and where samples are being given away so that you can get them before they run out.

Simple skincare is a UK brand that I've just recently been seeing in magazine ads and drugstores. I do have sensitive skin so I'm excited to try out the makeup remover and facial wash gel. Even better, these teeny bottles are perfect for travel.

I order the sample source box from this websites. They come out with new samples about every 3 months. Definitely sign up for their email list, as it is first come, first serve for choice of products and you get the maximum if you're one of the first to sign up for the season's box. I love love love granola bars and the Sunlight comes in handy when I'm at school and I run out of laundry detergent.

This is the p&g brandsampler holiday box. I've received the Downy Unstoppables scents in a previous box. They smell amazing, but unfortunately I've determined that I'm allergic to them, so I'll be either throwing those out or giving them away to a family member. Again, the laundry detergent is probably the most useful item in the box.

Above is an assortment of samples I ordered direct from companies. Shampoo/Conditioner: I really like trying out new haircare, and I go by the rule that I should never buy the same shampoo/conditioner twice. There are just so many out there and I haven't really found one that my hair is in love with yet. Advil: I don't get headaches too often, but when I do these little guys are useful. Garnier Ultra Lift: The Garnier facebook page was having a giveaway for a 10 day trial of a new product. I was not expecting ten samples of the same thing. I didn't really realize I ordered this, so I ended up giving it to my mom. Coppertone UV Detection: A little bracelet that tells you when it's safe to play in the sun. Seems like a fun, sciencey experiment and I'll be using this while I'm on vacation. Jergens: Who doesn't need a little body moisturiser? Especially in the cold months of winter! Avery Note Tabs: These'll be fun for using at school. Maybe I'll use them for bookmarks. L'oreal Youth Code BB Cream: I'm not sure how I got two of these, but BB creams are really in in terms of foundation/skincare. I've tried samples of both the Annabelle and Garnier BB creams and I'm not really into them. Maybe this one will surprise me.

The last two samples...coffee and laundry detergent. Can't wait to try them out :)

In all honesty, these samples have been collected over the past 4 months and I'll be going through them very very slowly. I truly wish they had samples of this magnitude for more beauty/cosmetics products.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

I know this is very late, but I've been away at school for the past 4 months and I've just come home [very excited] to open up my November Ipsy bag. As soon as I finished unpacking, ripped open the cute pink packaging, to find dust spraying at my face. That is, pink glittery dust. Not a great start to my ipsy experience...Any ways, here are a few of my first impressions:

In school, I'm studying accounting. Furthermore, I'm just a student and I don't have much income. So

I thought it would be useful to calculate how much worth I'm getting out of the bag, outside of how I felt about the products overall. So here's a little breakdown:

Left: two coats by itself // Right: two coats on top of Estee Lauder Velvet Chocolate [ignore my pinky!]

The Nailtini Nail Lacquer in "Millionaire" was definitely my favourite in the bag. I'd describe it as "confetti-in-a-bottle". It's mostly confetti shaped gold and blue strips with some fine pink shimmers suspended in a clear polish. As the confetti is a bit rough, you'll definitely need a top coat to seal the deal and make the nail smooth. Very pretty, and perfect for the holidays!

The Starlet Cosmetics Eyeliner felt a bit hard when I swatched it on my arm. I tried rubbing it off a little and it stayed put, so that's a good sign. The colour is as it says, black. I have yet to try it on my eyes, but in the past I've had a hard time with how pencil eyeliners smudge on me.

I've heard so many good things about the Balm products, so this one was a nice addition to the bag. The colour Matt "Batali" is a dark charcoal-brown and the shadow itself is very pigmented and smooth. It shall be a nice addition to my collection.

Me and the salty cosmetics mineral eye shadow had a bad start. It kind of spilled all over my package and the little pot that it was in was opened before I even took it out. Besides that, I'd say this product is so-so. Upon swatching, the colour was a sheer white with iridescent pink shimmer. After about an hour, the product wore away on my arm. I wouldn't wear this one alone, it would definitely have to go over another shadow to make the colour more prominent.

I've assumed the bag isn't worth anything because that's not really why I've subscribed to Ipsy and I don't think it's very good quality. It might be useful to store stuff in, but for the most part I think it's not something I would even buy by itself. The bag also came with a product card and some online coupons, but it's unlikely that I'll ever use them. Plus, the JustFab card expired before I even opened my bag.

I haven't tried out the Eclos Anti-aging cream. At this point in my life, I don't think I'm really in any need of any anti-aging and wrinkle help. I'll be giving it to my Mom [even though she doesn't really need it either :) ]. Also, I haven't tried out the They're Real mascara sample. I'll wait until I finish my other already opened mascaras and I'm in need of a new one.

I was slightly pooped that there was no BareMinerals Moxie lipgloss. It kind of makes me wish I lived in the States where everything is also $5 cheaper and there is 1000x the amount of product variety.

Overall, I was slightly underwhelmed with the bag. I mean, I liked some things, but I wasn't totally wowed. I think the nailpolish is what made up for the rest of the bag. I haven't received my December bag, but by the looks of the sneak peeks, it looks pretty nice. Definitely keeping this subscription and we'll see what is to come.

Please note that All photos and content are copyright of fun size beauty unless indicated as otherwise. Please email funsizebeautyblog (at) gmail (dot) com to obtain written permission before using any photos or content from this website.